Peer-To-Peer Assist for Live Media Streaming

• US 20130110981A1
• Filed: 10/31/2011
• Published: 05/02/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Adobe Inc.
• Original Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated (Adobe Inc.)
• Inventors: Thornburgh, Michael, Manapragada, Srinivas
• Granted Patent: US 9,591,069 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/16 Combinations of two or more digital computers each having at least an arithmetic unit, a program unit and a register, e.g. for a simultaneous processing of several programs coordinating program control therefor G06F9/52; in regulating and control system G05B
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1046 Joining mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1078 Resource delivery mechanisms

Abstract

Techniques and systems for media stream dissemination using a peer-to-peer network are described. A described technique includes joining a peer-to-peer network as a peer; determining whether to be a first source node in the peer-to-peer network; retrieving a media stream from a server based on being the first source node; dividing the media stream into separate portions in a manner consistent with division performed by one or more second source nodes in the peer-to-peer network; generating messages that include the portions, respectively, for dissemination on the peer-to-peer network; and posting the messages to the peer-to-peer network, where the messages are generated such that peers in the peer-to-peer network are able to identify duplicative messages that are posted by the one or more second source nodes, the duplicative messages being based on the media stream.

Claims

1. A method implemented by a data processing apparatus, the method comprising:

joining a peer-to-peer network as a peer;

determining whether to be a first source node in the peer-to-peer network;

retrieving a media stream from a server based on being the first source node;

dividing the media stream into separate portions in a manner consistent with division performed by one or more second source nodes in the peer-to-peer network;

generating messages that include the portions, respectively, for dissemination on the peer-to-peer network; and

posting the messages to the peer-to-peer network, wherein the messages are generated such that peers in the peer-to-peer network are able to identify duplicative messages that are posted by the one or more second source nodes, the duplicative messages being based on the media stream.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a media fragment of the media stream, the media fragment including a fragment identifier and one or more samples,

wherein dividing the media stream comprises dividing the media fragment into sub-fragments in a manner consistent with division performed by the one or more second source nodes, and

wherein generating the messages comprises;

generating a first message that includes the fragment identifier, a sub-fragment identifier, and a first sub-fragment of the sub-fragments; and

generating a second message that includes the fragment identifier, a sub-fragment identifier, and a second sub-fragment of the sub-fragments.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein joining the peer-to-peer network comprises obtaining a group address that is assigned to the peer, and wherein determining whether to be the first source node comprises making an autonomous decision whether to be the first source node based on the group address.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the autonomous decision is further based on group addresses of other peers in the peer-to-peer network.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein obtaining the group address comprises autonomously deriving the group address based on an autonomously generated cryptographic key.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a media fragment of the media stream, wherein dividing the media stream comprises dividing the media fragment into sub-fragments.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein posting the messages to the peer-to-peer network comprises suppressing propagation of the duplicative messages.

8. A computer storage device encoded with a computer program, the program comprising instructions that when executed by data processing apparatus cause the data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

joining a peer-to-peer network as a peer;

determining whether to be a first source node in the peer-to-peer network;

retrieving a media stream from a server based on being the first source node;

dividing the media stream into separate portions in a manner consistent with division performed by one or more second source nodes in the peer-to-peer network;

generating messages that include the portions, respectively, for dissemination on the peer-to-peer network; and

posting the messages to the peer-to-peer network, wherein the messages are generated such that peers in the peer-to-peer network are able to identify duplicative messages that are posted by the one or more second source nodes, the duplicative messages being based on the media stream.

9. The device of claim 8, the operations further comprising:

receiving a media fragment of the media stream, the media fragment including a fragment identifier and one or more samples,

wherein dividing the media stream comprises dividing the media fragment into sub-fragments in a manner consistent with division performed by the one or more second source nodes, and

wherein generating the messages comprises;

generating a first message that includes the fragment identifier, a sub-fragment identifier, and a first sub-fragment of the sub-fragments; and

generating a second message that includes the fragment identifier, a sub-fragment identifier, and a second sub-fragment of the sub-fragments.

10. The device of claim 8, wherein joining the peer-to-peer network comprises obtaining a group address that is assigned to the peer, and wherein determining whether to be the first source node comprises making an autonomous decision whether to be the first source node based on the group address.

11. The device of claim 10, wherein the autonomous decision is further based on group addresses of other peers in the peer-to-peer network.

12. The device of claim 10, wherein obtaining the group address comprises autonomously deriving the group address based on an autonomously generated cryptographic key.

13. The device of claim 8, the operations further comprising:

receiving a media fragment of the media stream, wherein dividing the media stream comprises dividing the media fragment into sub-fragments.

14. The device of claim 8, wherein posting the messages to the peer-to-peer network comprises suppressing propagation of the duplicative messages.

15. A system comprising:

two or more endpoints that are configured to be respectively two or more peers in a peer-to-peer network, the two or more endpoints being configured to perform operations comprising;

determining whether to be a first source node in the peer-to-peer network;

retrieving a media stream from a server based on being the first source node;

dividing the media stream into separate portions in a manner consistent with division performed by one or more second source nodes in the peer-to-peer network;

generating messages that include the portions, respectively, for dissemination on the peer-to-peer network; and

posting the messages to the peer-to-peer network, wherein the messages are generated such that peers in the peer-to-peer network are able to identify duplicative messages that are posted by the one or more second source nodes, the duplicative messages being based on the media stream.

16. The system of claim 15, the operations further comprising:

receiving a media fragment of the media stream, the media fragment including a fragment identifier and one or more samples,

wherein dividing the media stream comprises dividing the media fragment into sub-fragments in a manner consistent with division performed by the one or more second source nodes, and

wherein generating the messages comprises;

generating a first message that includes the fragment identifier, a sub-fragment identifier, and a first sub-fragment of the sub-fragments; and

generating a second message that includes the fragment identifier, a sub-fragment identifier, and a second sub-fragment of the sub-fragments.

17. The system of claim 16, further comprising:

an endpoint configured to use a reorder buffer to store received messages from one or more source nodes of the peer-to-peer network, wherein the reorder buffer uses sub-fragment identifiers of the received messages to reassemble a fragment, and wherein the reassembled fragment is delivered to a media player running on the endpoint.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein joining the peer-to-peer network comprises obtaining a group address that is assigned to the peer, and wherein determining whether to be the first source node comprises making an autonomous decision whether to be the first source node based on the group address.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the autonomous decision is further based on group addresses of other peers in the peer-to-peer network.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein obtaining the group address comprises autonomously deriving the group address based on an autonomously generated cryptographic key.

21. The system of claim 15, the operations further comprising:

receiving a media fragment of the media stream, wherein dividing the media stream comprises dividing the media fragment into sub-fragments.

22. The system of claim 15, wherein posting the messages to the peer-to-peer network comprises suppressing propagation of the duplicative messages.

23. The system of claim 15, wherein the two or more endpoints are configured to use a multicast communication channel of a local network to discover other peers of the peer-to-peer network.